MCR Gazette – Easter Week 3

A few things to draw your attention to this week. Firstly, Rebecca is still looking for Advanced students who are interested in taking over the Churchill social media for a day! The undergraduates have really risen to this challenge, so if you want to show the world what it’s like to be part of Churchill MCR, let Rebecca know!

It is also our MCR TGM tomorrow at 19:30 in the Sandy Ashmore Room, so come along to find out what the committee is up to. On Friday, we have an MCR formal, which will be accompanied by the usual pre-drinks in the MCR.

MESSAGES FROM COLLEGE

May ET 2017 workshops and tutorials

1) Study Skills Tutorials

Date: Wednesday to Friday, May, 17-19, 2017

Times: See sign-up link

Venue: Staircase 34B

There are always questions concerning your writing, note-taking, organizing, revising, and study skills on which you would like to have advice. These individual tutorials aim at discussing, demonstrating, and suggesting ways to improve your academic success. Please bring along your questions or any other work.

2) Workshop: Exam-taking Techniques

Date: Wednesday, May 17 or Thursday, May 18, 2017

Time: 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Venue: Tizard Room

Whether taking an essay based, short answer, or multiple choice exam, common strategies and tips for managing your time and working efficiently can be applied. Practice on planning answers and strategies for managing your preparation for and work during the exam will be the focus of this workshop.

Please bring along one exam question from your field to work on during the session.

3) Workshop: Writing Up Your Project (MCR)

Date: Tuesday, May 19, 2017

Time: 1:30-3:30 pm

Venue: Tizard Room

If you are preparing your dissertation, your project, or first year report, this interactive workshop will explore writing and researching techniques, along with time management and ergonomics tips, to help make your writing more efficient and successful.

Please bring along your questions, a sample of your note-taking, or a piece of your current writing for discussion.

Churchill College Social Media

College is looking to collect student-led content such as stories, images, videos etc. for our social media. We would like to show prospective students what life as a Churchill Student is really like. We are also looking to organise a student take-over of our Instagram Account. If anyone is interested in getting involved in this or helping me with our Pinterest Account do please get in contact. There would be minimal effort and time-commitment involved! – Rebecca

18th May – Beer Tasting @ MCR

19th May – MCR Formal Hall @ 19:30

UNIVERSITY/SOCIETY EVENTS

Café Synthetique is the monthly meetup for the Cambridge synthetic biology community with informal talks, discussion and pub snacks.

This months’ theme will focus on Biomimicry and engineering, which is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. Biomimicry in manufacturing is the practice of designing products that simulate or co-opt processes that occur in nature.

We have two excellent speakers whose work focuses on the use of Biomimicry and engineering.

Free bar snacks and good conversation provided!

Talks and speakers

“Learning from photonic nanostructures in plants: how disorder can be a feature”

CONFERENCES/GRANTS

23 June deadline- Biomaker Challenge

Biomaker Challenge is a four-month programme challenging interdisciplinary teams to build low-cost sensors and instruments for biology. From colorimeters to microfluidics and beyond, we’re looking for frugal, open source and DIY approaches to biological experiments. The challenge is open to students and staff at the University of Cambridge, John Innes Centre and the Earlham Institute. Participants will receive a Biomaker Toolkit and a discretionary budget for additional sensors, components, consumables and 3D-printing worth up to £1000.

30 June deadline – OpenPlant fund

The OpenPlant Fund is now open to proposals for innovative, open and interdisciplinary projects relevant to plant or in vitro Synthetic Biology. Projects run for six months and can include biological research, hardware prototyping, software, outreach and policy work. Each project will receive up to £5k, with up to £4k up front and an additional £1k for follow-on and outreach after reporting. PhD students and postdocs are particularly encouraged to apply and external collaborators are welcome. The aim of the fund is to promote the development of plant Synthetic Biology as an interdisciplinary field and to facilitate exchange between the University of Cambridge, the John Innes Centre, and the Earlham Institute for the development of open technologies and responsible innovation in the context of Synthetic Biology.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

10th June deadline – Fully funded volunteering English teaching program in China this summer!

Interested in teaching children and Chinese culture? Want to do something different and visit China? CUCCS Cambridge English Summer Camp has been successfully hosted for five years. It brings enthusiastic and talented Cambridge students together to inspire and teach Chinese students. Your help will have a great impact on students in China and allow you to share your talents with others, leaving a positive and lasting impact.

Here’s an opportunity for a FULLY FUNDED placement (including flights, accommodation and meals) in Beijing and Shijiangzhuang/Guangdong Province this summer!

-Organizer: The Cambridge University Chinese Cultural Society (CUCCS)

-Location: Camford Royal School in Beijing and Shijiazhuang/ Guangdong Province (you’ll be allocated to either Beijing plus Shijiangzhuang camp or Guangdong camp)

-Dates: from 10th July to 20th August 2017 (including 32 teaching days and 8 non-teaching days)

(*exact dates are subject to change)

-Roles: Teaching English to students age from 8-18 in a summer camp (no previous teaching experience or qualifications are necessary)

We are a small educational company established in 2003. We offer students a taste of their chosen subject at undergraduate level, enabling them to make a more informed choice about their university options, as well as to have fun getting really stuck into some challenging academic material together with equally enthusiastic peers.

We’re a little different to other tutoring companies, in that we don’t coach students to pass their school exams, and we don’t give university interview or other applications advice. Instead, we seek to appeal to students with a genuine intellectual curiosity and a desire to explore academic material in a more sophisticated way than is often available in schools.

At Debate Chamber we believe in a style of learning which is not constrained by the requirements of examinations, and which offers students the chance to engage with some great academic material for its own sake, rather than in an instrumental way. We encourage students to explore material more independently, pursuing their own interests and questions, rather than trying to second guess the desires of an examiner, interviewer or teacher.

We are looking for applicants to work with us on our 2017 Summer Schools in July and August.

We are currently looking to recruit tutors in the following areas: Economics, English Literature, International Relations, Law, Mathematics, Dentistry, Medicine, Philosophy, Politics, Computer Science and Physics. You can find out more about the content of our all courses on our website here: www.debatechamber.com.

Most of our Tutors are post-graduate students, and a minimum of an undergrad degree in a relevant subject is required for any teaching role.

We are based in central London (Bloomsbury), and the rate of pay is £145 per day (all lesson plans and teaching materials are supplied). We run an eight week summer programme, so depending in your subject there would be likely to be somewhere between two to eight weeks of work available. To find out more about the tutoring positions and to apply online please go to: http://debatechamber.com/work-with-us/

If you have any questions, or would like to send your cover letter and cv directly, then please contact Jessica Harvey-Smith, at recruitment@debatechamber.com or on 0845 5194 827.

Ongoing: UniAdmissions – Earn over £100 per day!

Are you a current Oxford or Cambridge graduate or in your final year of Study?

Are you keen to help enthusiastic 16-18 year olds with their UCAS application?

Do you have an interest in enthusiastically talking about your subject?

Would you like to inspire the next generation of scientists? If so then consider a day of demonstrating a Strawberry Fair on Saturday 3rd June with the Cambridge Hands-On Science Society (CHaOS). The event will run

12-6 with some set-up/clear-up either side and include a free lunch! You will get the chance to demonstrate some of our hands-on experiments to families, children and occasionally a few enthusiastic fair goers. Don’t worry if you’ve never done an event like this before no prior experience is needed there will be lots of experienced hands to guide you.

PAID STUDY OPPORTUNITIES

Ongoing: Participants needed for a memory study (£7.50 per hour)

The Memory Lab at the University of Cambridge is looking for volunteers to participate in a study investigating the precision of memory for visual details across the lifespan. The study involves attending 1 or 2 testing sessions on the Downing site of the University of Cambridge.

Each session will last 1-1.5h and will involve completing memory tasks on the computer. Participants will be paid at the rate of £7.50 per hour.

We are looking for native English-speaking participants, aged 18-30 years, who have no current or historical diagnosis of any developmental, psychiatric, neurological disorder, or learning difficulty. Participants should also have normal or corrected-to-normal vision and must not be colour blind.

If you’d be interested in taking part, or would like to receive some further information about the study, please email me at smk62@cam.ac.uk.

Ongoing: Participants needed for a paid research study about memory

Earn £10 for 1-1.5 hour of your time!!

We are looking for healthy adults with no history of psychiatric or neurological disorders.

You must be aged between 18 and 30.

The study consists of a straightforward questionnaire and a computerised memory task,

You can choose to participate at your college, or at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute in Downing Site, Cambridge City Centre.

The study will continue until the end of May/2017

If you would like to participate or would like more information, please contact Simon Kwon (smk63@cam.ac.uk).

Ongoing: Psychology experiment – earn £7 for 30-45 min!

The Behaviour and Health Research Unit are currently running a study looking to investigate the impact of glucose on cognitive performance.

We are looking for participants who:

– are aged 18 or over;

– are in good physical health;

– have English as a first language/equivalent level of fluency;

– are prepared to consume a drink that contains sugar;

– have no known allergies to the ingredients in Appletiser ®.

The study involves consuming a 330ml glass of Appletiser ®, and completing some questionnaires and other short tasks. It should last between 30-45 minutes, and you would be reimbursed with £7 for your time and expenses.

The study takes place in the Sir William Hardy Building, Downing Site, Cambridge, CB2 3EB.

OTHER

Note on Postgraduate Surveys

Dear Graduates,

By now, you’ve likely received emails from the University requesting survey feedback (PTES and/or PRES*). I’d like to share some information on what these are and ask that you take a moment to fill these out.

The University relies on PTES and PRES to gather graduate student feedback. There is a third survey (NSS), which is for undergraduates. You may have heard of the ongoing NSS boycott to block rising school fees. While it is not my place to comment on the matter, I have included links to both University (link) and CUSU (link) pages for your information. What I can say, however, is that PTES and PRES are not linked to the potential fee raises associated with NSS. Postgraduate fees are not subject to the same national policy as undergraduate fees. Rather, they are more subject to the University’s discretion—all the more reason to give feedback.

PTES and PRES directly plug into metrics used to judge each degree and department/faculty amongst their peers. It is a key institutional mechanism to make sure that our voices are being heard. Please take this opportunity to submit your feedback—especially if you have problems or issues that you would like to raise. Each graduate is provided with a unique link that has been sent to their inbox. Questions for the survey co-ordinator can be directed to Marianna Kaimaki (marianna.kaimaki@admin.cam.ac.uk). Past survey results can be found online (link; raven login required). Thank you for reading, and best of luck to everyone with final essays and exams!

Best Regards,

Albert Sanghoon Park

Grad Representative – Council of the School of Humanities and Social Science

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The Churchill MCR Gazette exists for the purpose of publicizing events to students. The MCR does not back any particular set of political or religious beliefs or lifestyle. Inclusion of events in the Gazette does not imply endorsement by the Churchill MCR.